He won’t play much for his new team, the Chiefs, on passing plays. But DeVito, a veteran defensive lineman, signed recently after six seasons with the New York Jets, wouldn’t have it any other way.

He prefers the dirty work of playing on running downs.

“There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing,” DeVito said. “I want to hit and be physical every play. If I don’t hit somebody, I know something is wrong. That first- and second-down run game, that’s where I live. That’s what I enjoy. I want to continue to try to get better at that and improve my craft.”

With the Jets, DeVito was good enough against the run that the Chiefs signed him on the day the free-agent market opened. One of New York’s coaches last season was Bob Sutton, the new Chiefs’ defensive coordinator.

“He played a big part in me coming here,” DeVito said. “I played for Bob for six years, and he’s somebody I have a ton of respect for. He’s a guy you want to give your all for.

“He’s a guy who really helped me progress. He took an interest in me even though he was a defensive coordinator, and then a linebackers coach, and I was a defensive lineman, and he helped me get better. He’s make sure I was keeping up on my techniques and my habits.”

The Chiefs relied on Sutton’s recommendation in signing DeVito.

“DeVito is one of those blue-collar guys,” general manager John Dorsey said. “He lines up. He plays. He gives you everything he’s got. He’s tenacious. Football is very important for him.”

DeVito can play all the defensive-line positions. He will most likely wind up at end in the starting spot vacated when Glenn Dorsey signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers.

DeVito’s football background is about as far from Glenn Dorsey’s as can be. Dorsey was drafted by the Chiefs with the fifth overall pick in 2008; DeVito joined the Jets the previous season as an undrafted free agent.

Dorsey played in college at LSU, where he was a member of a national championship team.

DeVito played at Maine, a Division I-AA school.

“I remember when I first came into the league, it was like, ‘Lord, just let me just make practice squad for one year,’ ” DeVito said. “Then it was, ‘Lord, let me just make the team this year.’ Then it was, ‘Lord, let me just sign this new contract.’ To hit this point in my career, to get this contract and to be a part of this organization, I can’t speak enough about how blessed I am.”

The Chiefs will ask DeVito to help improve a weak run defense. They were among the weakest teams in the NFL last season in yards allowed per opponent’s rushing attempt.

DeVito will usually come out of the lineup on obvious passing downs. But he will be asked to rush the quarterback when the opponent throws on early downs, and that’s where he wants to show improvement.

DeVito had just 2½ sacks in six seasons with New York.

“I want to continue to bring an aspect of the pass rush, as well,” DeVito said. “I have some things set up to help me grow as a pass rusher, as well. I’ve got a lot of great pass-rush tape. Sometimes the best way to work on the pass rush is to watch guys do it. I’ve got some tape of guys going out there making plays and rushing the passer and just see what guys are using and what’s working.”

The Chiefs begin their offseason conditioning program April 1, with practices beginning later in the month.

They can’t start soon enough for DeVito.

“I’m going to continue to work out and be ready to hit the ground running when I get here,” DeVito said. “I want to be in great shape. I’m going to go back and study some of that pass-rush stuff. I think it’s really important to go back and grade myself from the film from last year, see where I went wrong, see what I can improve on.

“Trust me, I’m ready to roll today. If they opened this thing up today, I’m ready to go. I’m excited about it. I’m going to be on the edge of my seat every night.”

Ryan used a lot of blitz because the Jets lacked any semblence of a pass rush threat.

I don't agree with that. That implies that Ryan only ran the defense because of the talent available. I think Ryan would have run a similar defense regardless of who he coached. And a curious question to ask is whether Ryan's defense would have been much more successful if he had true pass rushers like Hali and Houston.

In Ryan's defense, DeVito plays a nice role because he is versatile in a different way than we're used to. We're used to versatility meaning the ability to flex between playing DE and OLB. In this case, DeVito has tremendous versatility to play in lots of different interior alignments. He can play either 4-3 DT position or he can play 5-technique or nose tackle. And all 4 of those positions are very highly used in a Ryan defense because Ryan likes to flex between 3/4 and 4/3 fronts, which is a staple of the Ryan defense.

It's not a sexy pick. But I don't think we should get too hung up on the idea that he's not a penetration or pass rush guy. We can't look at him like a Romeo or a 1-gap defense. In a Rex Ryan scheme, he has a very valuable role.

Romeo is probably one of the few guys who nearly always uses an odd front, which requires both DEs to play 2gap tech.

Ryan and Sutton both will play 2 gap from the odd but also use a variety of fronts out of their base 3-4 alignment (over ed, under reduce, etc) which will usually involve 1 DE playing 2gap principles whilst the NT and other DE playing upfield techs/principles.

Yup, and Ryan runs a lot more 4-3 alignments than a traditional 3-4 coach does. In Baltimore, he often trotted out Ngata and Gregg on the same line, two mammoths. At other times, it was Gregg/Bannon or Gregg/Kemoeatu. In New York, he liked to trot out DeVito and Pouha, also two big meaty guys. In other words, Ryan's defense likes two meaty guys on his line at all times, and he wants the versatility to change alignments with the guys on the field. One of the reasons I really like the DeVito signing (assuming, that is, that Sutton's defense is going to work)